


This Moment

by Rueitae



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Innuendo, Marriage Proposal, Pillow & Blanket Forts, because Allura is alive in this one and though it isn't specifically mentioned its implied, very brief - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 06:07:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21931180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rueitae/pseuds/Rueitae
Summary: The first to arrive for an all-Paladin get-away in the mountains over the holidays, Pidge and Lance find themselves in for the long haul when a blizzard strikes. Without power, they'll have to make due - its not as if they've never cuddled before.
Relationships: Lance/Pidge | Katie Holt
Comments: 6
Kudos: 39
Collections: Plance Secret Santa 2019





	This Moment

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Time_is_fading](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Time_is_fading/gifts).



> Written for the [Plance Secret Santa exchange](https://plancesecretsanta.tumblr.com/) for [time-is-fading](https://time-is-fading.tumblr.com/). I hope you like it!

Arms numb and muscles strained with the weight he holds both in his hands and his heart, Lance leans his shoulder into the door, one foot anchored a step below the other. It swings open and he staggers into the kitchen, letting out a terrified squeak as he nearly drops the precious - and very heavy - portable generator.

He nearly trips over a rug in the near complete darkness. With a final heave, he lifts the precious machine onto the kitchen table, wrinkling the perfectly ironed tablecloth. Dust plumes all around him, built up from the years the machine has spent in storage. Lance coughs, waving his arms - that honestly feel like wet noodles at this point after the heavy lifting - in a futile attempt to stop any more dusty particles from reaching his throat.

Short strides and light feet scamper into the kitchen. Lance squints in between coughs just in time watch Pidge’s eyes light up in delight when she crosses the threshold, the lights of the Christmas Tree on the front of her sweater blinking on and off through the dust like Rudolph’s nose on that foggy night, giving off just enough light to see in front of them in the cold, dark kitchen.

“You found it!” she exclaims, jogging over to him. Pidge wastes no time in rolling up the sleeves of her sweater, examining the generator for functionality as she grips it possessively. Her face contorts, nose wrinkling as she begins to sort out whatever problem she’s found. Lance’s heart does a little leap, finding the action so quintessentially Pidge and therefore endearing and adorable.

He coughs, the dust still scratchy against his throat. “Does it have enough juice?” he wheezes.

Pidge frowns, eyes still on the machine. “It’s been over a decade since I was last here with Mom, Dad, and Matt,” she admits. “Only one way to find out how deteriorated it is.”

Lance whines at the thought of cold showers and canned food for a week (or longer, who knew how long this snowstorm would last). To distract himself from the possibility of such a dismal future, he watches her delicate fingers dig into a mess of cables. They’re so _tiny_ , fitting into small spaces and rearranging components with calming ease. Speckles of dust and grime fall onto them, though Pidge pays it no mind, focused as she is on her task. Dirty or not, he has the sudden, inexplicable need to hold them - but he does not reach. Pidge’s work is far too important to interrupt right now, just as imperative as any mission they went on as Paladins.

Licking his lips, Lance frets. Had he sized the ring too large?

With a grunt, Pidge flips the switch and to Lance's extreme relief, it hums to life.

“Oh thank goodness,” Lance sighs, slumping to a squat, arms hanging onto the table. “I don’t think I could have lived with a cold shower.”

The window pane above the kitchen sink rattles, strong winds swirling both the falling and newfallen snow. Though the snow shines brightly in the dark of the evening, he still can’t see Pidge’s car, parked on the gravel road only feet from the cabin.

Pidge switches the generator off. “Dad must have modified this one if it’s lasted this long.” Gently, she brushes off some lingering dust around the manufacturer label. “We’d better save power regardless, I’m still not sure how much is left in this one.” She lifts her eyes to the window, mouth a thin, concerned line. “I don’t think the others are going to be able to make it in time for Christmas.”

Disappointment laces her tone, and Lance is upset too. They all needed this break from their various duties across the universe. Lance had genuinely been looking forward to it being just the seven of them again, recounting the insanity of the beginning of their tenure as team Voltron. It was Matt who’d reminded them of the Holt family cabin in the mountains, and at the time it seemed like an idyllic getaway from media and duty alike.

Except now it would just be him and Pidge in a near powerless cabin in the middle of nowhere until the blizzard subsided, both simmering with frustration at the weather and all traces of joyous holiday spirit gone.

Lance drops a hand into his jacket pocket, fingering the small black box. He’d missed his chance on the car ride here. He’d missed his chance after the Galaxy Garrison holiday party and during numerous lunchtime walks on the Galaxy Garrison grounds. No opportunity had seemed _right_. Maybe the universe was telling him now to just suck it up and do it - gifting him this unplanned time alone with her. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t discussed getting married so many times before - he and Pidge were ready (or at least as ready as they thought they could be).

But it seems wrong to do so here, during a winter storm, when he could take her to see the sun set on the waters of Varadero Beach, dining with spaghetti, garlic knots, and peanut butter cookies for dessert.

If he could just be patient a little longer and create the perfect moment for her. It’s the very least Pidge deserves.

He looks up at her, flashing his most flirtatious and cheesy of grins. One thing he _can_ do at the moment, is lift their spirits and make the most of this and make up for the fact he won’t have the others to help keep things festive. “Well, just you and me isn't so bad, Pidge. Alone in a cabin, cut off from the rest of the universe.” He waggles his eyebrows to sell it further. “I can think of a few things to keep us entertained.”

Pidge’s face alone looks as if it could heat the entire cabin for the whole two weeks they'd be here. It entertains him for all of three seconds before she grins wickedly right back at him, his face falling in slight fear that she might actually be willing to indulge in the innuendo.

“You’re right, Lance,” she says with a sly smirk. “Alone in the middle of the mountains and a snowstorm that won’t let us see what kind of _spooky_ creatures are out there.” She shrugs smugly. “We'll do what the old song says and tell a bunch of scary ghost stories. A brilliant idea to keep us entertained,” she continues, with a smile that tells Lance she knew _exactly_ what he meant and pulled the rug from under him on _purpose_. “I’ll grab the blankets and we can camp out in the living room.”

She splits off and Lance falls to his back on the kitchen floor, just now finding the breath he’d been holding. He’d nearly ruined something else that he wanted to be absolutely perfect and romantic on their wedding night over a joke to keep her mind off the lack of the rest of the team.

She’d quiznaking had him in the first half.

He loves her so much.

Telling stories _was_ a great idea, though, he decides as he arranges the throw pillows on the floor of the living room in front of the crackling stone fireplace and Pidge drops the blankets and pillows gathered from the bedrooms on top of them. Telling the absolute scariest story will surely have Pidge clinging and cuddling against him! The perfect opportunity to use his arm-over-the-shoulder technique - tested and perfected _years_ before he arrived at the Galaxy Garrison for his first class. Just the thought of cuddling with Pidge makes his toes tingle despite his fuzzy wool socks, eager to bask in the known warmth of her arms wrapped around him.

The promise of cuddling perks him up and clears his senses like a brisk December morning. It feels festive now, and Pidge's sweater looks right at home with shiny bobbles on the Christmas tree - illuminated by the fire on the wood - the silver tinsel strewn about the shelf lining the room, and the folding table ready to hold his mother's famous punch recipe that he can't wait for Pidge to try and pair with whatever delectable snacks Hunk brings. Just being among the trappings of the holiday, doing something _fun_ with Pidge, makes his heart feel much lighter.

Like a well-oiled machine, honed from years of sharing the Voltron bond and heightened in the years of courtship, the two of them layer the pillows together between the two pronged corner couch and loveseat and drape bed sheets on top of them for a roof. They squish as many comforters and blankets and pillows inside the three-sided fort as they possibly can, making a cozy tent for two. It could be a scene from the outside, with this tent a recreation of a cabin and the evergreen by the large window filled with ornaments and topped with a star just a normal part of the forest. The only thing needed was the seven of them participating in the most epic snowball fight known to the universe - where he’d finally enact his sweet revenge on Keith for the hit in the Squishy Asteroid Fight. 

But, he realizes as he eyes Pidge making sure their bedsheet roof was secure, he could _practice_. 

With a childhood full of playing baseball in the schoolyard behind him, Lance launches the circle shaped throw pillow at Pidge. It hits her square in the back of the head and falls limply to the ground. Pidge straightens from being bent over to her full height. Then, just as fast as if it were her bayard, Pidge lunges at him with a body pillow - the spark of competition the last thing he sees before nothing but white fluff. 

“I had an older brother too, Lance,” Pidge says devilishly. “I _know_ how to pillow fight.”

All nervousness surrounding the ring in his pocket forgotten, Lance picks a pillow up off the floor. “You had one sibling, I had _four_ ,” he retorts. “I have the stamina and the awareness to win this one. And,” he adds, pointing smugly to her sweater, “mine doesn’t light up like a target.”

Still, fighting a group wasn’t the same as fighting one-on-one, as Lance found out. Pidge was just as fierce (and far more used to hand-to-hand combat than he) as he remembered during training sessions on the Castle. Not that he minded in the least, the distraction was welcome. 

Lance lands on his side first, head resting on the pillow he’s designated as his own near the back of the fort, breath heavy, but laugher from the utter silliness they’d partaken in not far from his lips. His heart beats with a delighted trill as Pidge falls to her side next to him, nearly bouncing on top of the layers of pillows and blankets, mouth formed into a wide, contented smile

She opens her eyes, their faces so close together it would be so easy to kiss her.

So he does, a simple peck right on her nose.

“I love you,” he tells her.

Pidge snorts at his action, her mouth curling up adorably in amusement. “What brought this on? The brilliance to conserve energy by making a pillow fort?”

“That too,” Lance admits with a laugh. “Can’t I just say it for no particular reason?”

Thick brown eyebrows raise in curiosity. “What are you buttering me up for, Lance?”

“Nothing!” he squeaks. His hands freeze in a heart-stopping moment; quiznak, what if she’s _expecting_ a proposal on this trip? Will he let her down by not offering her the ring in his pocket? The howling wind outside is hardly the perfect atmosphere compared to the sun-kissed ocean waves. “I’m just… glad if I had to be stuck anywhere during the holidays, it’s with you. You make me feel like I can do anything.”

Rather than a sickeningly sweet and teasing ‘aww’, Pidge’s gaze falls to the pillow laden floor, her grip tightening on the edge of a quilt. “That means more than you know,” she says somberly. “You’re my best friend, Lance. I gave you the cold shoulder _so many_ times back when we were a simulator crew and you _never_ gave up trying to hang out.” A small, gentle smile forms on her face as she looks back up at him. “You - You’re _all_ family to me. Shiro and Keith, Coran and Allura, Hunk and..” she meets his gaze and he can’t breathe or look away. “And you.”

Warmth overwhelms his heart. He’d known, of course, his persistence had paid off to gain Pidge’s friendship, but to hear it from her makes him happy beyond belief.

He never can - or wants to - replace that familial feeling between the Paladins but… he also wants to be a family with her - just the two of them.

“You definitely had us all fooled for a while,” he admits. Slowly, he curls his fingers and fully encases her hand in his free one. “But I’m forever grateful I got the chance to know the real Pidge.”

And he means it. The more he sinks into the soft blankets in comfort, the more he just wants to stay like this forever. To take Pidge into his arms and hold her through the entire storm.

Pidge squeezes the hand that holds hers. “Me too - about the real Lance,” she says laying relaxed among the blankets with eyes that are full of purpose. “Marry me.”

Lance's face is stretched so wide and like an idiot it takes him several seconds to realize what had just happened.

He shoots up, head making a dent in the bedsheet ceiling. “What?” he squeaks. “Wait. Hold on. I was going to propose to _you_!”

As he witnesses the myriad of emotions that pass across Pidge’s face, from fear to relief to the _audacity_ to outright laugh at him, Lance resigns that he won’t be able to give Pidge the perfect proposal on the beach.

But he loves Pidge and as long as she says yes that is all that matters in the end. He can make up for a low-key proposal with a grand wedding.

“I figured, after our tenth talk about what to name our kids and all,” Pidge says, then rolls onto her back and chuckles a few more times at his expense.

Lance huffs. “It’s not funny, Pidge. I had it all planned. We’d go to the beach, watch the sunset and have the most perfect romantic candlelit dinner! My mom was even going to cook! You _know_ how delicious her cooking is!” He digs into his pocket and pulls out the black box. “I even had this ready!”

Pidge stops laughing the instant she lays eyes on the box, her mouth agape in pure surprise as she slowly sits up. “You… already have the ring. You actually have it. Here. Right now.”

At Pidge’s disbelief, Lance’s own jaw drops. Planned or not, this was happening right here, right now. He clears his throat and shifts to his knees, opening the box and offering it out to Pidge. The band is green and silver with seven tiny diamonds set as low as possible - as much of a sacrifice between Pidge’s desire for nothing too flashy, easy to work with in the lab, and Lance’s desire to give her everything.

Now that the ring is out, Pidge viewing it… there is no doubt in Lance’s mind that _this_ is the right moment.

“I’ve had it for a while,” he admits. “I’ve always wanted to give the girl I marry the most perfect and romantic proposal and… this isn’t it, but, I love you, Pidge,” he says with a fluttering heart that he hopes reflects in his smile. “I’d be more than happy to share my life with you.”

In awe, Pidge takes the ring out of the box with shaking hands, inspecting it thoroughly, still in a wave of disbelief. “I - I…”

Now it’s _his_ turn to worry about rejection. A thousand terrible scenarios run through his mind - that Pidge hates the ring or worse, that she has second thoughts about this level of commitment. Lance knows he has none, and if he has to wait for years for her to be ready he will.

Even if - his heart thumps painfully - if she never does.

He frowns. “Are you okay, Pidge?”

She nods. She nods _furiously_ , tears pricking at her eyes. “My heart was yours first.” With the skills of a ninja she swiftly drapes her arms around his neck, head resting on his shoulder. “Absolutely, yes.”

Lance knows she answers both of his questions. Joy in his heart and butterflies dissipating from his stomach, he takes her into the closest of hugs and enjoys the comfort of being able to hold his fiancee. 

It may not have been the perfect proposal he’d envisioned, but all the same he’s overcome with all the happiness in the universe and an urge to do _something_. He flops back down onto their pillow-bed and laughs as Pidge both shrieks and giggles in delight when he takes her with him, kicking at him playfully and futility.

Her breath surrounds his senses and he doesn’t even mind taking a whiff of the salami she’d had for lunch. Just as their arms and legs are tangled together, their noses bump roughly. Lance snorts and chuckles as Pidge curls into his chest, still giggling softly. His lips are already on her forehead, so he takes the opportunity to kiss her. Once for their engagement, twice for how thankful he is for her company snowed-in, and three times for how much he loves her.

A flash of light and a crack of thunder tells him that the intensity of the storm won’t be diminishing anytime soon. And that’s okay by him, so long as he can stay like this.

Pidge’s humorous noises still to a sigh and she makes no move to leave his arms, instead taking a fistful of his sweater in her hands and snuggling closer. “You know, I’m kind of glad the storm interrupted our plans,” she hums. “Otherwise you might still be planning for that perfect moment.”

“You’re right, as usual,” Lance concedes. He doesn’t much care to be shown up, not when this outcome is a win for him too. What he’s not going to tell her, is that what was once a grand proposal, is now going to be the best and most romantic first anniversary date.

He grins into her hair, content as he equates the warmth of the beach to the warmth of her arms and the blankets. 

“So how about those ghost stories?” he reminds her as mischievousness builds in his heart. Now that they’re engaged, he has even more reason to perfect his protective cuddling of Pidge. Because they have their whole lives together to look forward to now, and he’s certain there will be moments where Pidge will want the weight of his arms around her to both comfort her when she’s sad and protect her when she’s scared.

Pidge shifts to her back, head resting easy on her pillow as she gives him a smug smile. “You’re on,” she tells him as he leans back into his own pillow, staying on his side so he can keep his arms wrapped around the one of her closest to him. “Ever hear about Yeti around this area?” The confident glint in her eyes sends his heart pounding, knowing this was going to be a good one. Pidge never did things halfway.

“A local legend, huh?” Lance grins, completely sure he’ll weather this one. It’s not like any of these things were real. “I’m all ears, Pidge. _Try me_ .” After knowing her story, he’ll be able to one-up her with one of his own and they’ll cuddle under the covers in their little tent with the warmth of each other. They’ll be able to save the generator for a nice hot shower in the morning - or whenever they _thought_ it was morning. The blizzard will make it difficult to tell.

And Lance had no intention of leaving their little tent to check. By the vice grip Pidge had on his sweater as she begins her story, neither did she. 

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [Tumblr](https://rueitae.tumblr.com/)


End file.
